Looking for some Young Adult reading while you relax this summer? Loved Red, White, and Royal Blue, The Hate U Give, or The Grishaverse? Check out these highly anticipated YA releases, now at Gustavus Library!
Described as Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe plus aliens, this book combines desert sci-fi with real-life issues of immigration, deportation, and grief.
Three years ago, Sia’s mom was deported and disappeared in the Sonoran desert. Now, Sia drives into the desert and lights San Anthony and la Guadalupe candles to guide her mom home. Then one night, under a million stars, Sia’s life and the world as we know it cracks wide open. Because a blue-lit spacecraft crashes in front of Sia’s car…and it’s carrying her mom, who’s very much alive.
Set in the same world as The Hate U Give, new characters deal with viral fame and the ways race, class, and speaking your truth publicly can play out online.
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip-hop legend who died right before he hit big. Bri’s got massive shoes to fill. But it’s hard to get your come up when you’re labeled a hoodlum at school and your fridge at home is empty after you mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral … for all the wrong reasons.
Are we ready for a pandemic read? The Tox has little in common with COVID-19, but the atmospheric setting, conspiracy plot, and body horror elements of this book make the quarantine of Raxter School for Girls a little more thrilling.
It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her. It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous.
A queer romance set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (and translated from Portuguese) dealing with HIV stigma.
When Victor finds himself getting tested for HIV for the first time, he can’t help but question his entire relationship with Henrique, the guy he has-had-been dating. See, Henrique didn’t disclose his positive HIV status to Victor until after they had sex, and even though Henrique insisted on using every possible precaution, Victor is livid. That’s when Victor meets Ian, a guy who’s also getting tested for HIV. But Ian’s test comes back positive, and his world is about to change forever. The lives of Ian, Victor, and Henrique will become intertwined in a story of friendship, love, and stigma — a story about hitting what you think is rock bottom, but finding the courage and support to keep moving forward.
Pirates, gender-bending queer romance, a mermaid! A fantasy romance for readers who enjoyed The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.
A desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial daughter find a connection on the high seas in a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic. Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. When the pirates prepare to sell their unsuspecting passengers into slavery, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is en route to a dreaded arranged marriage with her own casket in tow. The pair set into motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid.
A beautiful graphic novel with queer characters about dealing with toxic relationships.
All Freddy Riley wants is for Laura Dean to stop breaking up with her. The day they got together was the best one of Freddy’s life, but nothing’s made sense since. Laura Dean is popular, funny, and SO CUTE … but she can be really thoughtless, even mean. When Freddy consults the services of a local mystic, the mysterious Seek-Her, she isn’t thrilled with the advice she receives. Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnist Anna Vice, to help her through being a teenager in love.
Book descriptions in this post have been adapted from the publisher.
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